Do shake fist about cause of failure (4,2,5)
I believe the answer is:
kiss of death
'cause of failure' is the definition.
'do shake fist about' is the wordplay.
'about' indicates anagramming the letters.
'do'+'shake'+'fist'='doshakefist'
'doshakefist' with letters rearranged gives 'KISS OF DEATH'.
(Other definitions for kiss of death that I've seen before include "Something with disastrous consequences" , "Say or do something for the best which then backfires" , "Something destined to cause disaster" , "Act that has fatal or disastrous consequences" , "Something causing failure (colloq.)" .)